When I was a child, my mother often told me, “Don’t run around, or bad uncles will grad（抓住） you. And you know what? You will never see Mum and Dad again.”

    “Why, Mama? Why would these uncles grab me?” I would ask. “The city is a dangerous place and we don’t trust any strangers, ”she would reply.

  Well, that might answer the question of why my second brother never picks up calls from an unknown person either on his mobile or his home phone. It seems that he doesn’t care if he misses an important call. because he thinks that all unknown calls are from bad persons.

    So, have we given too much protection to our young kids? Perhaps it is so. But the adults’ thoughts are indeed easy to understand. The kids meet swindlers sometimes as we adults tell them. Also they get some news about cheating（欺骗） in newspapers or on TV every day. That makes the kids believe that they just cannot trust strangers.

    Let’s look at an example from everyday life. Say, if someone carrying a wooden stick（棍子） comes nearer to you, will you try to run away at once even before he or she starts talking to you? Will you guess this person’s intentions（意图） and think that he or she wants to rob（抢劫） you of something? Think of the answer for yourself.

    Of course, the kids should look after themselves, but overprotection can sometimes stop them from making new friends. Sometimes it’s not good for their new friendships.

    Trust is like a mirror. When we offer trust to people, they might just show you trust in return.

1 What do “swindlers” probably do?

  A. They cheat other people.

  B. They often call other people.

  C. They rob people of something.

  D. They teach children to protect themselves.

2 Which of the following is NOT the reason why children don’t trust strangers?

  A. Their parents tell them not to trust strangers.

  B. They get to know some news about cheating in newspapers or on TV every day.

  C. Strangers always have bad intentions.

  D. They sometimes have experiences of being cheated.

3 What does the writer want to tell us?

  A. Children should always follow their parents’ advice.

  B. We should never talk to strangers.

  C. Parents should learn to protect their children.

  D. People should try to trust each other.

I stood there listening to my father shout at top of his voice. The    1    on his face said that one of us had done something wrong.

“   2   one of you did this? ”

We all stared down at the step. There was child’s handwriting in chalk there. I was very  3  . I hoped no one could see it. Would he guess it was me? I was so scared. When he asked me, I   4   , “Not me, Dad. ”

The others denied (否认) it as well. Of course, we all knew that one of us   5  have done it. But as the   6  and the smallest of the three, I just couldn’t find the courage to tell the  7   .

To find out who had written on the  8  , father gave us each a piece of paper and a pencil. “I want each of you to   9  exactly what you see on the step. ”

I tried my best to write the words  10 . I didn’t want Dad to be able to tell it was me.

He gathered up our pieces of paper and looked at them. “ Since  11 of you will

admit(承认) to have done it, then I will punish you all. ” I stood there and said  12 . The last thing I wanted was for Dad to punish me!

“ I  13 it. ” My sister stepped forward and said she had done something she hadn’t. She was punished for a month.

We didn’t talk   14 that day for many years. Not until we were all older and I knew it was safe to finally tell my dad it was really me. I always felt sorry  15  it. That was the last time I let anyone take the blame for me.

1.                A．sound          B．taste           C．look D．feeling

2.                A．What          B．Which          C．Who D．Where

3.                A．unhappy        B．surprised       C．angry D．frightened

4.                A．lied            B．said            C．talked    D．told

5.                A．can            B．may            C．must D．might

6.                A．oldest          B．kindest         C．youngest  D．healthiest

7.                A．answer         B．story           C．truth D．thing

8.                A．step           B．ground         C．floor D．door

9.                A．write          B．draw           C．paint D．print

10.               A．carefully        B．differently      C．heavily    D．badly

11.               A．all             B．none          C．neither    D．both

12.               A．something      B．anything        C．everything D．nothing

13.               A．did            B．done          C．do   D．doing

14.               A．on            B．with           C．to    D．about

15.               A．because        B．because of      C．though    D．except